Transformer

iTunes Editors’ Notes

Lou Reed needed someone’s help after his first self-titled solo album went nowhere. His days in the Velvet Underground as a chronicler of deviant behavior and avant-garde sonic passions made him an important influence on the emerging ‘70s glam-rock scene but it didn’t help raise his mainstream profile and, therefore, his future as a working musician was seriously in peril. In a moment of payback, the hugely successful “Ziggy Stardust”-era David Bowie, who’d learned a thing or two from the Velvets, came to Reed’s aid and put him in the recording studio with his main co-conspirator, guitarist Mick Ronson, to help Reed sculpt a sound deserving of his colorful material. “Walk on the Wild Side” was the unlikely hit, with its spare groove, intimations of nightlife and jazz, and swooning bass line set against Reed’s stoic, plainspoken delivery of people living on society’s margins. Reed added “Perfect Day,” “New York Telephone Conversation” and “Vicious,” tunes that furthered his reputation as a reporter who saw things quite differently and more dramatically than your average singer-songwriter.